Attorney Herald Price Fahringer ran into a dubious appellate panel on Feb. 29 as he argued that disbarred defense attorney Lynne Stewart was unfairly punished for free speech when comments she made after sentencing outside the courthouse helped persuade a judge to more than triple her prison term in 2010.
Before a courtroom filled with Stewart supporters, Mr. Fahringer told a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that Southern District Judge John Koeltl (See Profile) violated Ms. Stewart’s First Amendment rights at resentencing when he found the statements she made after her initial sentencing in 2006 showed a lack of remorse.
